After four weeks of fairly
intensive and strenuous birding on 6 Philippine islands, it was a
pleasure to visit Taiwan where the travel, food and accommodations were
always of the highest standard. Here we were to see or hear 118 species
including 12 of the 15 endemics.

Everyone in our
small group of six Canadians was eager to see Taiwan’s birds, especially
the endemic ones. Unfortunately, when planning our visit, we had
underestimated the extent to which Taiwanese people celebrate the Lunar
New Year and how much they love their highlands. There were traffic
delays but still we got around pretty well and, in the end, we joined in
the festivities.

We were met at
Taipei airport in the afternoon by Simon Liao and Ten-Di Wu. We headed
southeast to Huisun Forest Station. Next morning the first bird we saw
was a very vocal Collared Owlet directly overhead. On the morning walk
up the hill we saw many species (with strange sounding names) like
Yuhina, Minivet, Niltava, Fulvetta and Sibia. As we left the area we
saw several of the beautiful Formosan Magpies.

Next we birded
Aowanda National Forest Recreation area where the highlight was a group
of 4 or 5 Rusty Laughingthrushes – a species Simon had only ever seen
once, years before. We stayed that night at the “Quiet and Clean House”
(Chingjing Resort) where the food and rooms were of the highest
standard. This was our base for the Hehuan Mountains, Emerald Lake area
and best of all, the famous Blue Gate trails where we saw five gorgeous
Swinhoe’s Pheasants (three of them males). Close to the hotel, I was
personally thrilled to see a flock of Vinous-throated Parrotbills at
close range. This was a new world bird family for me – #195 now and
only 9 more to go! That day we saw Steere’s Liocichla and Taiwan
Barwing among many other species. At A Li Shan National Park, best
birds were Vinaceous Rosefinch and White-browed Scrub-Robin. We
descended to the lowlands where we had great looks at a beautiful male
Maroon Oriole and where I found 2 Blue-and-white Flycatchers. We
visited the Dadu River estuary where we saw 5 of the world-endangered
Saunders’ Gulls. We went to an inland shorebird location where, for us,
the most exciting bird was a Siberian Rubythroat “showing well” as the
English birders say. (One of this species was found dead north of
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and is still considered the rarest bird ever
to turn up in our part of the world.)

Finally after 34
days of non-stop birding, we relaxed and enjoyed the Lunar New Year in
Changhua. We visited Buddhist temples, ate some unusual (to us)
delicacies and did some shopping. After lunch we headed north for the
long drive back to the airport, stopping once at a windy seaside
location for 6 Swan Geese whose location had been phoned in to us.

Of course,
seeing the Swan Geese was an example of the extra care Simon and Ten-Di
take for their visiting birders. Local birders staked out the spot in
gale force winds in order to report the arrival of the geese to us. As
well, we all appreciated that Simon introduced us to Taiwanese
specialties every day. Enjoying a cup of the best coffee in Taiwan
under blossoming cherry trees, sampling fresh sugar cane at the centre
of Taiwan, watching the sunrise at the very best spot in the country to
do so, even enjoying the very best cabbages grown in the country were
experiences of great pleasure. Simon kept us birding but never missed
an opportunity to give us history lessons or share the many tastes of
Taiwan.

After seeing the
rampant ecological destruction in the Philippines, it was a pleasure to
note the obvious pride the Taiwanese take in their wildlife and we were
impressed by their strong conservation ethic.